Kathy Chandler 🌻

Ugh, we’ve reached that point in the year when the spiders are setting up giant webs to catch any unwary human that attempts to venture across the garden!

Kirkenes, right next to the Russian border, is the last port of call for the Coastal Express before it turns around and heads back to Bergen. An important industry for the town is King Crab fishing, so the crab has been adopted as a symbol for the town. The King Crab is an invasive species here, so fishing helps to protect the marine ecosystem, as well as providing a livelihood for local people.
#Hurtigruten #CoastalExpress

This is a bit of a long shot, but perhaps someone here knows the answer. Many years ago, I was in Hawaii and I remember being told about a project that attempted to control an exotic tree species that was outcompeting a native species. The exotic tree was vulnerable to a particular insect (?) that didn’t exist in Hawaii, so the insect was introduced in an attempt to eradicate the exotic tree. However, it turned out that this insect actually preferred the native tree species and caused even more damage. Does anyone know any more detail? Like the tree species and the insect.

#InvasiveSpecies #BiologicalControl #NatureBasedSolutions #Hawaii #Ecology #Insects

Saw an otter in the canal! It ducked its head under before I could get a picture - but I saw an otter in the canal! 😁

Someone asked if I had any useful tips about the #CoastalExpress. All the ships have a small self-service laundry on board, which came in very handy as I was away for four weeks.
#Hurtigruten

24 hours after arriving in Vardø, the weather had changed dramatically and ship number 5, MS Nordkapp, docked in torrential rain. Fortunately it was a fairly short run from my hotel (where this photo was taken) to the quay.
#Hurtigruten #CoastalExpress

So, ship number 4 was MS Nordlys. This was just a short hop from Kirkenes to Vardø, taking less than four hours.
#Hurtigruten #CoastalExpress

On each round trip journey the entire crew on the Hurtigruten ships carry out a safety drill at Honningsvåg. The emergency scenario is always a surprise, just as a real emergency would be. On this occasion the crew prepared to abandon ship and some of them got to take one of the lifeboats out for a test run. If you don’t go on an excursion then it’s interesting to watch.
#Hurtigruten #CoastalExpress

At the Honningsvåg stop, many of the passengers choose to visit the North Cape on an excursion, but there is also a very nice walk up a mountain, giving you an excellent view of the town and the docked ship.
#Hurtigruten #CoastalExpress

The weather hadn’t improved much by the time I left MS Nordkapp at Harstad. Fortunately, my plans involved heading underground to the water park inside a mountain (so I still got wet).
#Hurtigruten #CoastalExpress

And this year I finally managed to photograph the midnight sun! Not the 10 minutes to midnight sun, or the 2 minutes past midnight sun, because it disappeared behind a mountain top at midnight (2025); this year I caught it at exactly midnight from Vardø harbour.
#Hurtigruten #CoastalExpress

If you’re particularly interested in the history of the Coastal Express and the working of the ships, then MS Vesterålen is the ship for you. One of the corridors in the centre of the ship has become a little museum, and there are several talks by various members of the crew throughout the journey.
#Hurtigruten #CoastalExpress

Next major stop was Tromsø. Tromsø has two cathedrals. This is the older one.
#Hurtigruten #CoastalExpress